12 Questions for Sponsors

As the year starts to ramp up, it felt like a good moment to try something a little different.

Just before Christmas, I was talking with a friend about her transformation program, and we kept coming back to the same issue – how to quickly understand if a project is going well.

She challenged me to come up with a simple set of questions to know if her program was set up to succeed. And not just questions that you can answer yes/no, but rather ones that you sit with and take a bit of time and reflection.

The result is what I call the 12 Questions for Sponsors. It is a list of questions for sponsors and project leaders to slow things down and take the time to reflect on their project setup.

I’m sharing this resource freely with my network to help us all start the work year on the right foot.

Rather than just sending a simple list of questions, I’ve expanded each one into a short blog post with commentary and audio.

Think of this as a set of prompts or contemplations rather than a checklist. Some of the questions might feel obvious. One or two, I hope, will make you pause and reflect and bring forward an insight. She particularly liked Question 6: Is there a better way? which created insight into how the project could be accelerated.

If you want to access it, head over to my website (www.kieranduck.com/12questions). The link will be active for a few weeks.

I hope these questions help in making 2026 a great year of progress and learning for you.

I will be back into the normal cadence of newsletters in February.

Kieran